Police Investigating Gang Members In Danny Vega Case

Police are investigating three felons with a history of violent robberies as "persons of interest" in a November attack on South Seattle hairdresser Danny Vega.

The three men, all in their early 20s, have all previously been arrested for robbery, and at least two of them are "South End Folk gang members," according to Seattle Police Department records.

In November, three men beat and robbed hairdresser Danny Vega near Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. and S. Othello St., stealing Vega's cell phone, wallet, and jacket. Following the attack, Vega was able to make it home and was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died. Medical investigators are still trying to determine whether Vega died from injuries sustained in the attack, or from an unrelated medical condition that was not discovered until he was admitted to the hospital. Police are still investigating the case as a homicide.

Not long after Vega's death, detectives identified a group of three men captured on surveillance tape not far from where Vega was beaten as "persons of interest in the case," who had previously been involved in several other robberies in the south end. In one incident in March last year, officers arrested two of the men for robbing a woman at a bus stop outside a rave just one block from where Vega was later mugged.

According to police records, one of the men under investigation met with homicide detectives four days before Christmas, and admitted to using Vega's cell phone, which was taken in the robbery. He also admitted being involved in other robberies in Seattle, but "does not remember" robbing Vega.

Police have not arrested the three men for robbing Vega, but served a search warrant at a south Seattle home in December, where they seized several pieces of clothing.